KERCH, December 9. /TASS/. The gas pipeline connecting the Republic of Crimea with the Krasnodar Territory of Russia will be laid under the Kerch Strait in 2018, Minister of Fuel and Energy of Crimea Sergei Yegorov said at a meeting of the republic’s Council of Ministers on Tuesday.

“The gas pipeline will be laid under the Kerch Strait and will go onshore in Kerch,” Yegorov said. “This is a serious gas pipeline that will be connected in the Krasnodar Territory to the projected gas pipeline that will now run to Turkey, the former South Stream.”

Russia’s Gazprom natural gas giant signed a memorandum of understanding with Turkey’s Botas on December 1 on constructing an offshore gas pipeline across the Black Sea towards Turkey. The memorandum was signed in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdogan. The new gas pipeline will have a capacity of 63 billion cubic metres, with 14 billion cubic metres slated for Turkish consumers (identical amount is being delivered via the Balkan Corridor) and nearly 50 billion cubic meters conveyed to the border between Turkey and Greece, where a delivery point will be arranged. The Russkaya compressor station being under construction in the Krasnodar region will serve as the pipeline starting point.

The total length of the Krasnodar Territory - Crimea pipeline will reach 135 kilometers and the pipe diameter - 700 mm.

According to the minister, the pipeline will first of all supply the city of Kerch with natural gas. “The federal target program (for the development of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol) and regional program envisage gas distribution network development in Kerch. The city’s gas supply infrastructure is only 71% developed today. Crimean cities’ gas infrastructure development is 89% on the average,” Yegorov said.